Voting begins in presidential election

Voting has begun in the country’s 23rd presidential election. The voting started at 2pm on Thursday (August 20) in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban’s chamber, with lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties casting their ballots.

Voting will continue until 5pm, according to sources at the parliament building.

A total of 349 members of parliament are expected to vote in the election. BNP-nominated candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and the 11-party alliance’s candidate, retired Colonel Oli Ahmed, are contesting the presidential race.

Unlike a general election, the president is elected only by members of parliament. The voting procedure is also different.

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the presidential election ballot paper has two sections. One section contains the ballot’s serial number, the voter’s name, division number and a space for the voter’s signature. The other section contains the names of the contesting candidates, with designated spaces beside their names for signatures.

MPs will write their full names beside their preferred candidate’s name and sign there.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin is conducting the election, assisted by other officials. Voting is taking place inside the parliament chamber.

The EC secretary said there will be no voting booths. Three transparent ballot boxes have been placed inside the chamber. MPs will receive their ballots while seated in their respective seats and, after completing the voting process as prescribed, will deposit their ballots in any of the nearby boxes.

Voting will end at 5pm, after which the ballots will be counted immediately inside the parliament chamber. The election officer, CEC Nasir Uddin, will announce the results after determining how many of the 349 ballots were cast, how many were valid and how many votes each candidate received. The Election Commission Secretariat will subsequently publish the results in a gazette.

Earlier, the country’s 22nd president resigned on July 24, citing illness. The EC announced the election schedule on August 6 to fill the vacant post, setting August 20 as the voting date.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir submitted his nomination as the candidate of the BNP and its like-minded parties, while Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Oli Ahmed submitted his nomination as the candidate of an 11-party alliance. Both nominations were declared valid during scrutiny.

As neither candidate withdrew within the stipulated deadline, the president is being elected through voting this time.